


In Which They Finally Touch (Sort Of)

by TheNightingaleLily



Series: Johnny/Female V One Shots [14]
Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:40:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29498967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNightingaleLily/pseuds/TheNightingaleLily
Summary: V and Johnny have an idea, and it involves a doll chip and a little help from Judy.
Relationships: Johnny Silverhand/V, SilverV - Relationship
Series: Johnny/Female V One Shots [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121597
Comments: 3
Kudos: 60





	In Which They Finally Touch (Sort Of)

_ Okay, V. Okay, okay, okay. You can do this. You can— _

The door opened and Judy was standing inside, arms folded with a smile on her face. She gestured with her head. “Hey V, come on in.”

“Hey Judy. Thanks for seeing me.”

“‘Seeing you’? What am I, your therapist that let you in for a last minute session?” Judy looked at V like a horn had erupted from her forehead. “You alright?”

“You know, I’m really not.” V let out a nervous laugh. “The favor I need’s a little...embarrassing.”

“You said it’s about Johnny?”

“Yeah. He’s not”—V tapped her head—”home right now, by the way.”

“Alright...so what’s the favor?”

“Okay, um…”  _ Spit it out, spit it out, spit it—  _ “I want you to put him into a doll chip so we can sleep together.”  _ Whoo. There. Now to see if she thinks I’m insane...godammit Johnny, you got me thinking to you when you’re not even here. _

“ _ Oh. _ Okay. I thought...you couldn’t remove the chip?” Judy hadn’t kicked V out of her apartment. That was a good sign.

“No, right, I can’t. But, remember how I went to talk to the Voodoo Boys?”

“Mhm…”

“They extracted a fragment of Johnny’s engram for uh...reasons I don’t wanna get into, and I paid them to make me a copy.” V held out the shard that Brigitte had given her.

“Ah...iiiiinteresting. Let me take a look,” Judy said, and snapped up the shard. “I’ve never worked with an actual...what do you call it, and engram? A real person’s  _ mind. _ ”

V’s eyebrows raised. “You sound excited,” she said.

“Well yeah, this is new territory! Doll chips are all just generic personality traits, stitched together to make whatever the client wants. This is a person!”

“Well, uh...good to know you don’t think I’m a freak,” V chuckled.

“V, I’ve worked on doll chips  _ and _ BDs. I’ve seen my fair share of what most would consider weirdos. To me, they’re just clients, Just explained. “I’ve met plenty of folk that want to do the do with fictional characters, at least yours is  _ real _ .”

Judy slotted the shard into the reader in her comp and sat down to get to work. Lines of code started scrolling across the screen and it hit V that that code...was  _ Johnny _ . A part of him, anyway. But in her head, on the biochip, his entire being existed as an extension of that code.

After a moment of examining the numbers on her screen, Judy excitedly swivelled around to face V. “I just had...the craziest idea,” she grinned. “This fragment is probably a...a facsimile of Johnny. A fragment of his psyche means a fragment of his personality, right? If I put this in a doll it might be a little...off.” Judy seemed absolutely giddy at this point. V had come to the right person. “But what if we could link this fragment to the  _ real Johnny _ ? Doll chips are made to communicate with one another, handy for threesomes, foursomes, whatever. What if I make a Johnny doll, and we slot a variation of a doll chip into you, then  _ maybe _ real Johnny can communicate with doll Johnny.”

“What...would that mean?” V asked. She didn’t understand a word, but she was getting excited nonetheless. This might actually be  _ possible. _

“Well since they’re the same construct, if my theory’s correct, it means Johnny could  _ control _ the doll. From your head.” Judy squinted her eyes in thought. “Only thing is...it would probably put a lot more stress on the doll. They couldn’t go long before they’d need to rest.”

“How...long?”

“The average doll can go—and by ‘go’ I mean maintain the assigned persona—for about 4 hours. A really  _ good _ one, and I’m talking corpo level, can go up to 24. They’re usually netrunners. So for this, depending on who we can get...2 hours minimum, maybe up to 12 if we can miraculously get into contact with a corpo doll. Still, 2 hours? Plenty of time to...well.” Judy leveled V with a sly look. “Get some work done.”

“Judy...what are the chances you can do this? Lowball it, I don’t want to get my hopes up.”  _ Well, too late for that I guess. _

“I won’t really know until I get a good look at this data, but...the whole shebang, let’s go with 40 percent. The odds of getting the fragment on the chip? 80 percent.”

V wanted to scream. This could happen, this  _ might happen. _ Internally she was practically jumping for joy, but she managed to keep her composure and respond with a simple “Okay. Preem.”

“Give me a couple days to get the doll chip loaded up, then I’ll see about doin’ the rest. I’ll probably need both of you to test some things.”

“Okay. Just give me a holo if you need anything. And Judy…” V took a deep sigh. “Thank you. This means a lot to me. Probably to Johnny too, not that he’d ever admit it.”

Judy smiled. “No problem, V. And ya know, if I can get all this wor work, I’d love to meet him.”

“You sure about that?” V asked, eyebrow cocked. Johnny didn’t exactly like Judy, not that she knew that. “Have I told you he’s a major douchebag.”

“You have. But it’ll be interesting, meeting a legend.”

“Ha. If you say so, Judy. I’ll see ya later.”

“See ya, V.”

The moment she was out the door, V stopped fighting the grin that had been trying to show itself for the past ten minutes. She leaned on the railing at the top of the stairs and let out a joyous laugh.

“We might actually be able to do this, Johnny,” she said out loud. She touched the tattoo on her forearm and started down the stairs.

~~~

“Are you sure you trust this woman, V?”

“Yes, I do. I really don’t know why you don’t.”

“I don’t trust a lot of people.”

“You trust me, and I trust her. Problem solved. Plus,” V added, sitting on her bed and spreading her legs. “don’t you want to eat my pussy?”

“Fuck…” Johnny groaned. “Fine. But I’m  _ only _ doing it for the pussy.”

V gave him a doubtful glance. “Mhm. Come on, we’re late.”

“V, you have control of the body. That is purely your fault.”

“Shut up.”

~~~

“Hello, hello,” Judy greeted, once they’d arrived at her apartment. “Come on in! Is…?” She tapped her own head.

“Yeah, he’s here.”

“Hi, Johnny.”

Johnny appeared right in front of Judy, his face mere centimeters from hers, eyes squinted to examine her. V barely stifled a laugh and managed to say “Uh, he says hi. Kind of.”

“Right...well, I’m all ready to go. My friend Tom will be here later, he will  _ hopefully _ be Johnny’s...vessel today. I already tested out the fragment persona, it looks promising.” Judy handed V a cable. “Here, jack in. I need to run some scans.”

V took a seat and did as Judy said, and followed her further instructions. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing or why she was doing it, but she complied. Johnny was not so cooperative.

“Alright, now it’s Johnny’s turn.” Judy turned her head to look at the empty chair that sat next to V’s, and V realized that she had put that chair there for Johnny. He was currently leaning on the windowsill, not sitting in it, but she just wouldn’t tell Judy that. “Johnny, I want you to think really hard about...playing guitar? Let’s go with that.”

“I’m...not doing that,” Johnny sneered.

‘Johnny…’ V said, inside her mind, and locked pleading eyes with his. ‘Please.’

He sighed. “Fine, but I’m not gonna sit here  _ imagining _ it.” Instead, he sat—in the chair Judy had provided—and his guitar appeared in his hands.

Judy turned back to V with a slightly uncomfortable expression. “Uh...I guess tell me when he’s doing it?”

“Yeah, he’s actually playing though. He can, uh...summon a guitar.”

“Oh! Neat. Let me just…” Judy turned back to her monitors and closely examined whatever was happening on them. A strange mix of expressions cycled across her face; confusion, surprise, more confusion, what looked like complete  _ bafflement _ , then finally delight. “This is...fascinating! I don’t know why I didn’t do this sooner.” She excitedly turned to V, and must have seen  _ her  _ confusion, because she turned back and muttered “Hold on, maybe I can...let’s see...ah! Here.”

The lines of incomprehensible code disappeared on one of her monitors and an image of a human brain took its place.

“Okay this is a rough mockup of what this code over here”—she gestured to the many other monitors—”represents. Basically, this is a scan of Johnny’s brain.”

“Ey, she’s scanning my brain?” Johnny growled.

‘Yeah. What did you think she was doing?’ V thought to him.

“I thought she was scanning  _ your _ brain.”

‘My brain  _ is  _ your brain, Johnny.’

He only grumbled in response and went back to strumming.

“Were you two just talking?” Judy asked, a very obvious excitement in her voice.

“Oh. Yeah,” V answered.

“I could see it! See, this area, the one that’s lit up.” Judy pointed to an area in the middle of the brain image that was glowing orange-red. “This is the motor cortex, it controls movement. Movement like playing a guitar. But a minute ago, this part over here activated.” This time she pointed to the front of the brain. “That’s the speech center.” She sounded absolutely giddy and V found it adorable.

“Johnny,” V said out loud. “Say something.”

“Eat a dick.”

Just like Judy said, that front part of the brain lit up.

“Would you look at that…” V murmured. Since the moment Johnny appeared, she’d had no doubts that he was very real. Of course she could see and hear him, but she could also somehow feel him deep in her psyche. But it wasn’t until now, seeing an actual brain scan, that it hit her...he was  _ real _ . She looked over to him sitting in that chair, playing his guitar and somehow looking upon him now felt different. “So when ca—” she started to ask Judy, but was interrupted by a chime at the door.

“When can we try it out? Right now,” Judy grinned.

_ Right now _ turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration. It took about another hour of scans, some kind of doll chip editing, bringing Tom up to speed on what little V—and Johnny—felt comfortable sharing. Judy was just about to switch the chips on for their first trial run when Johnny spoke up with an idea.

“I just wanna try...something…” Johnny walked over to where Tom was standing and started...well, poking him.

“Uh, Tom,” V said, “just so you know Johnny is standing by you. So I’m looking at him, not you.”

Tom cocked an eyebrow, but shrugged. “Alright,” he said.

‘Johnny what are you doing?’

“I’ve gotten pretty good at manipulating this thing.” He waved his arm to indicate his body. “It’s just an image, right? Well, what if I can overlay that image?” Carefully, deliberately controlling his movements, Johnny stepped into the spot that Tom occupied in realspace. After a moment of adjusting, Tom was gone. All V could see was Johnny. “Ask him to move his left arm. Slowly.”

“Tom, can you slowly raise your left arm?” V asked.

Tom complied. An disembodied arm raised out of the place where Johnny’s virtual arm lay by his side, but soon Johnny’s arm followed suit. The movements didn’t match exactly, but in a second it caught up and once again they occupied the same space.

V was mesmerized. “Now your right?”

Another disembodied arm appeared, but this time Johnny was quicker to catch up. The movement was smoother and the real arm was less visible.

“Random limb now,” Johnny said.

“Okay, now any limb. At random, move it however.”

The right arm went back down and Johnny’s matched it almost perfectly. V was barely able to tell that another body lay beneath Johnny’s form.

“Holy shit…” she whispered.

Judy finally spoke up. “Uh, what...what’s he doing?”

“He’s overlaying his image onto Tom’s body,” V explained. Her voice was soft. “Matching his movements almost perfectly. I can’t even see Tom, all I’m seeing is Johnny. It’s...kind of amazing.”

“Wow. He’s going off of sight alone? That is ingenious.” Judy looked off into space, in thought. “And it should be easier when he’s  _ controlling _ the body, right? More sensory cues to go off of.”

“Yeah...it will…” V whispered. “Judy, turn it on please.”

“Yes, ma’am. I have a killswitch so let me know if anything feels wrong. Which means, I need to stay here...but I’ll, ya know, look away. If I have to.  _ Anyway,  _ activating…” A few key clicks later and she finished, “now.”

For a moment, nothing happened. Then all of a sudden, V was hit with a rush of vertigo that almost took her off her feet. In fact it would have, if a pair of arms hadn’t caught her. 

One of them was silver.

She almost didn’t want to look up. For several seconds she stared at that silver arm, wrapped around her waist, supporting her weight. It wasn’t until she heard him say her name, and she was truly convinced this was real.

“Hey, V,” Johnny whispered.

Tears filled her eyes instantly as she raised her eyes to see his face. “Johnny…?” Slowly, achingly slow, V lifted her arm to his cheek. She could feel it. She could feel th warmth of his skin. She could feel the tear that fell from his eyes. She could feel his skin stretch as he smiled. She could  _ feel him.  _ Part of her brain was telling her that it wasn’t quite right, but she didn’t care, she didn’t care, Johnny was  _ here _ and she could  _ touch him _ and she could—

Before the thought was even complete, her lips were pressed to his and they were kissing  _ so desperately _ , as if this was the first kiss either of them had ever experienced, and the last they ever would.

“Johnny.  _ Johnny _ ,” V gasped. She wrapped her arms around him and held on as if he was the only thing anchoring her to the earth. “Johnny, Johnny, Johnny…” She repeated his name, over and over again. Perhaps hoping that doing so would keep him here forever.

“I’m here, V,” Johnny whispered, his head buried in the crook of her neck. “I’m  _ here.”  _

There they stood for what could have been second, or could have been hours, alternating between kissing and holding each other. 

Until finally Judy spoke up.

“I’m, um...getting some odd readings,” she said quietly. “I think...I’m sorry, but I think we should stop for now.”

V’s heart plummeted. No, she needed more time. Panic began filling her like a rising flood. But just as it was about to explode from her, Johnny put a finger under her chin and gently lifted it. 

“V,” he whispered, as her eyes met his. There was no fear in them. No sadness. Only warmth. “I’ll still be with you. And hey,” he added, with a little smile. “She said ‘for now’. Maybe we can do this again.”

V was always mesmerized by how gentle he could be. Amazed that that loud, hostile rockerboy could turn into this. The most calming presence she’d ever experienced.

“Right...yeah. Right. Judy, go—” No, not quite yet. She gave him one last—praying it wasn’t truly the last—desperate kiss. And then pushed away from him and turned around. “Go ahead, Judy,” she said, and left the room.

She needed fresh air. That was her excuse but really, she couldn’t bear to see Johnny disappear. Turn back into a someone else. So she made her way to the fire escape and of course, the normal incorporeal Johnny was there to greet her.

“See? Here I am.” He was trying to sound jovial, maybe sarcastic even, but V could only hear sadness. 

She gave him a sad smile. “It’s okay, Johnny. You can quit bein’ strong for me.” She was half expecting a quip in response. Instead he just leaned next to her on the railing.

“Smoke?”

“Way ahead of you.” V lit up a cigarette and took one long drag. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a hand, flashing with streaks of blue, settle over hers. She could barely feel a thing but...it helped.

He was still here.


End file.
